Leather Coral Situation

[67Stang]

I was in my local LFS last night where I am a frequent customer. I noticed that a couple of their leather corals were closed up and the tips were starting to get that string like substance on them.

Anyway, the salesman told me that they just don't seem to be doing well in their system and since I was a frequent customer he would give them to me if I wanted them!

So, I took them home last night and placed them in my hospital tank.

They look a little better already but I'm looking for any advice on what I should do to help revive these little guys quickly.

Is there a special way to feed them, should they get alot of light or little light, should I dip them and if so in what?

Any advice would be great.
Thanks
Bruce

 

[kevjtomy]

I have both moved and propagated my toadstool. Both caused it to have "slimey stringlike stuff" emitted from it. It went away all by itself. When I got it from the store it didn't look to well either (hardley anything does here because of my LFS reef tanks) but it got better right away. I have mine in a 72g with 4x96W PC's, towards the top of the tank and it's doing great. Hopefully I said something you were looking for, someone else will probably help more. Good luck.

 

[fragman]

Are they Toadstools or Fingers?
Leathers are very resilient, there are only a few things I can suggest:

Make sure your using a good skimmer.
Take out the corals one by one in a bucket of tank water, and remove--buy cutting or rubbing off any necrotic tissue, and THROW THIS WATER AWAY!!!
Perhaps you could try adding aliitle extra Iodine, but not too much!!
You could also try giving them a Dip in an Iodine solution, like kent Tech-I or Tech-D.

Hopefully this concern is not over simple skin shedding of the leathers, If you didn't know they do shed a waxy film from time to time.

Lastly, I would add that, since Leathers are just about the eaziest corals to keep, YOU FIND ANOTHER LFS to frequent!!! If they are having troubles keeping Leather corals than almost anything you get from them may destined for failure.

These are just my opinions based on what you have said, I could be wrong about the LFS but I believe that others would agree.

 

[jdeets]

I'd recommend good lighting and then just leave them alone. Leathers are hardy, but when they're stressed sometimes it can take a week or two for them to open up fully. If they're closed up and otherwise fine, I'd put them in the bottom of your main tank, keep any eye on them but otherwise leave them alone. It may take a week or two for them to start looking happy again.

I recently had to move my toadstool leather. To do so, I had to cut it off at the base and I used toothpicks to attach it to a smaller piece of LR. It's been about 3 weeks since I did that, and it's just now standing up straight again and opening up.

Just give them some time and they should come around if you leave them alone. HTH

 

[reefhope]

I can suggest one additional thing, provide good water movement over them for a week or so to help them rid the slime/coating. stronger waterflow than you would normally provide for a leather.

Leathers usually slime over to protect themselves from unwanted algal growth that may occur in less than optimal water conditions (perhaps your LFS doesn't do a good job of keeping his water clean, or as an LFS near me does perhaps he is using unfiltered tapwater in his reef tanks).

The waterflow should help them shed the film. Good luck. FWIW I would not give them any type of dip as they are probably already stressed.

 

[67Stang]

I'll keep you all updated as to the results tonight

 

[67Stang]

Just an update
Still the same condition, no better, no worse.

It is tilting on it's side a little but may be that's because the power head is sending current directly above it.

No extension yet.

I'll keep everyone updated

 

[67Stang]

Do you think my leather coral isn't perking up because I have it in a location with alot of water movement?
I placed two power heads pointing into the general direction of the coral, is this a problem?

Also, shade or light? which is the best location? Low down in the tank with maybe some low level light or bright light?

BTW, the tank is 200gal, no water quality problems, two metal halide pendants.

Thanks again
Bruce

 

[bababooey]

I just bought a leather coral about a week ago and it was not looking good either. It had no extention and was sagging very baddly. Just yesterday (Sunday) it was perked up and fully extended. I do have a power head aimed at it and it does not seem to bother the coral. I to have had the slimey stuff being released my coral since day one but the Power head had removed the majority of it, maybe a trace is still there who knows but it may be gone when I get home. I would not worry just give it some time. I Have mine situated in the middle of my rockwork under 240 watt pc. If you have MH lighting you should have no problem.

[ September 10, 2001: Message edited by: bababooey ]

 

[MDBentley]

Could be low iodide - leathers have a habbit of staying closed and get very limp in this situation.

They will spring back to life really quickly when this is fixed - maybe even the same day.

Iodide is removed very efficently by skimming so you can get into a low Iodide situation very quickly i.e. within a few days.

 

[beemert]

someone once told me that this hobby requires patience.
that said,i would guess that if your water is good and cirrculation is good, they will come back.
i have a leather and a finger that are weird. sometimes for several days they do nothing and then all of a sudden they are back. the finger i have sheds occasionaly and i thought it was a goner. nope, comes back fine.

 

[esmithiii]

I second the patience thing. Leathers are very hardy. Can you tell us the type of leather? Maybe post a pic?

E